


soothe

by Nerd_of_Camelot



Series: Borderlands Prompts/Requests [3]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Atlas CEO Rhys, Comfort, M/M, Night Terrors, One Word Prompts, Short, Timothy Lawrence has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, not borderlands 3 compliant, rhys is a good boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22935385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerd_of_Camelot/pseuds/Nerd_of_Camelot
Summary: soothe: gently calm (a person or their feelings)--Sometimes you just have to remind your boyfriend that the subject of his nightmares can't hurt him anymore.
Relationships: Timothy Lawrence/Rhys
Series: Borderlands Prompts/Requests [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1648405
Comments: 1
Kudos: 35





	soothe

“Shhhh,”

Rhys ran his fingers through Tim’s messy hair, pressing the elder’s face into his neck and listening to the way his breath whooshed in and out of his lungs rapidly―like he’d just finished running a marathon. His arms were squeezing tight and frankly it hurt Rhys’ ribs a little, but far be it from him to dislodge the other.

“It’s okay,” He murmured into Tim’s hair, pressing his lips to his sweaty forehead and trying not to noticeably cringe at the feeling of sweat.

Sure, it was a little gross and he wasn’t the best equipped for dealing with gross things at the moment, but he’d soldier through it for Tim because, much as the man looked like Jack, he wasn’t Jack. He was so much better. He was sweet and kind and, yeah, sassy enough to have been Jack’s twin, but by now Rhys knew him well enough to know that that particular trait was learned. It was a defense mechanism. Something he’d learned to do while going around being Jack to keep up appearances and keep his feelings from being hurt in the process.

Tim seemed to try to take a deep breath, fingers knotting in the fabric of the back of Rhys’ shirt.

In the dark room, Rhys couldn’t so much see the way Tim shook as he could feel it.

“You’re gonna be alright,” Rhys told him softly, laying his head against the top of Tim’s. “Everything’s gonna be fine.”

He didn’t know what this was about, exactly, but it didn’t take a genius to guess that it may have been about the time Tim had spent working for Jack.

Rhys, for his part, had been working on something on his ECHO, just trying to get it done while he still had the motivation to do so. He’d been right beside Tim, left side pressed against his sturdy back while he slept. He’d felt it when his breath sped up, felt it when he began to twitch, felt it when he jerked awake and away from him.

He’d pulled him close again and Tim hadn’t hesitated to wrap his arms around him and, apparently, try to calm himself down.

Again, Rhys didn’t know what this was about. He could guess, of course, but he wasn’t even sure he wanted to know.

“Thank God you’re alright,” Was the first thing Tim said to him, what seemed like an hour after this had started.

Unsure what to say, Rhys merely hummed.

Regardless of how long they’d been sitting here, Rhys was starting to get very, very tired. He had an early start in the morning and he was sure he’d already sacrificed most of the good night’s sleep he could have gotten just trying to work instead of sleeping―but to some extent he was glad he’d been awake. He couldn’t help wondering how many times Tim had had to do this without Rhys being awake to hold him and reassure him.

“I―” Tim stopped himself, pulling away from Rhys’ neck slowly to look him in the eyes.

Rhys blinked back at him.

“If Jack was alive―” He stopped himself again, looking away, “If I still worked for him… You’d probably be dead. He’d have made me kill you for being an upstart.”

This was, of course, a possibility Rhys had entertained.

Lord knew the AI version of Jack hadn’t liked it when he got confident and told him to shove it―one could only imagine how the real Jack would have reacted to him growing a pair of balls… Not that he likely would have ever grown the ones he had now if Jack was still alive.

“Well, good thing Jack’s dead then, huh?” Was the best thing he could think to say.

It fell flat, not having the joking or comforting tones he’d have liked it to have. It was honest, instead. Too honest. It probably wouldn’t help.

Tim stared at him for a moment, almost disbelieving.

Then, slowly, the elder man’s lips began to curve upwards. Further, further―eyes crinkled at the edges and then…

And then Tim was laughing, full-bellied and hearty.

Rhys blinked at him, unsure how to take the reaction.

Tim kissed him, once he’d sobered, and Rhys decided that maybe it didn’t matter what Tim found so funny about that reply. As long as it put Tim in a better mood, he didn’t care.

“You know,” Tim said, stroking Rhys’ cheek, “I think he actually woulda liked you.”

“Yeah?” Rhys asked, lifting a brow and leaning into the touch.

“Yeah.” Tim confirmed, smiling at him. “Long as you didn’t question his authority or betray Hyperion, that is.”

Rhys chuckled a little, smiling back. “When he was alive I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing either of those things, Timtams.”

“Sure,” Tim agreed easily, then, after a moment, “Yeah, he’d have liked you. Even with your weird obsession with him.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rhys rolled his eyes, slowly pulling Tim down so that they were laying together rather than sitting, “He’d have liked me because of my weird obsession with him. He’d have promoted me to his Personal Hype Guy.”

Tim snorted, pulling Rhys close again and burying his face in his hair.

He didn’t reply aloud, but he pulled Rhys closer nonetheless.

With his ear now pressed to Tim’s chest, Rhys found himself smiling―sure, Tim didn’t reply to that aloud, but he didn’t need to. Rhys could feel how much better Tim felt.

His breathing had slowed and shallowed, heart beat still steadying as Rhys listened.

It was relaxing to listen to, frankly.

“Hey, Tim?” He asked after a moment, voice breaking through what had been a rather comfortable silence.

Tim hummed in question.

“You’re gonna be okay, right? Like, if I fall asleep right now.”

He got a little huff of a laugh in response.

“Yeah,” Tim told him, nuzzling into his hair again, “I’m gonna be okay. ‘M falling back asleep myself.”

Rhys smiled and nuzzled into his chest.

Tim gave another little huff of a laugh and Rhys thought that maybe, just maybe, one day Tim wouldn’t have to wake up panicking because of the mere memory of Jack. Maybe one day he’d be able to go to sleep with a smile on his face thinking about the fact that the rat bastard was dead.

…

… Rhys would really like that.

Smugly satisfied was a good look on Tim.


End file.
